"Perrrcy!" Grover said, awkwardly leaping to a standing position.
Percy hugged him, then initiated a fist bump (of course). "G-man! I missed you. What are you doing here?"
Grover held up a finger, "Let me explain after I say hi to Annabeth, or I might not live to see tomorrow."
She laughed and uncrossed her arms, reaching for the hug. "It's good to see you, Grover. Thanks for acknowledging my presence."
He grinned, "Well, I've learned the hard way that that's the first thing to do in any situation. How've you been?"
She shrugged, "Same old. School, drawing up some designs for the future, doing Percy's homework.."
"Hey, I resent that! You're only half doing my homework, I'm helping."
Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Helping me do your homework. How charitable. But Grover, what ARE you doing here?"
"Well, now that the war's over I'm doing a lot of environmental promotion work; starting up eco clubs, convincing people to go green, and spreading awareness about the detrimental impact modern society is having on nature. A few other satyrs are working with me, we're calling it FON, for Friends Of Nature. I assigned everyone to the most polluted places in the world; Coach Hedge's cousin Marty is in Hong Kong, poor guy. But I need to be near camp since I'm on the council, and New York was one of the two locations in America I was planning on sending satyrs to, so I figured I would go here. And now I can be near you guys, AND Juniper!" he sighed, a dreamy look on his face.
"That's so cool, man! Where in New York are you doing all this?" Percy asked.
"I'll be doing a lot of traveling from school to school; yes, I will be at Goode, but only for one day, and I have to be serious while I'm there. But yeah, so lots of schools, um, some big corporations, things like that."
"My question is, did you choose FON because you actually wanted to be called Friends Of Nature, or because it sounds like fawn?" Annabeth asked shrewdly, the hint of a smile on her lips.
Grover laughed, "A little bit of both, maybe. But I've got to go see Juniper, I promised to set up a picnic for our two and a half year anniversary. See you guys soon though!" And he frolicked out of the apartment.
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Annabeth collapsed again. The monsters of Tartarus kept coming, launching fire, spears, and rocks her way with every step. She could feel her need for the river's fiery magic grow stronger, and called out when she felt her recently broken ankle break all over again as she tripped over some kind of…well, that's best left unsaid. She threw her arms out to break her fall, and felt broken glass incise all the skin covering her hands and arms, then the back of her legs as they hit a moment later. Asshe drew what she knew would be one of her last breaths, the horde of monsters and spirits overwhelmed her, and she felt something cold slide through two of her ribs. "Percy," she whispered, her breath like flames climbing up her throat and onto her tongue. "Why did you leave? What did I do? I thought you loved me. Seaweed—" She couldn't control her mouth. Or her hands. Her eyelids started sliding closed, and slid out of focus, the monsters' screeches fading away…
"Annabeth! Annabeth, wake up. Come on Wise Girl, wake up, please!" When Annabeth came to, Percy's voice was saturated with anguish.
"Perce?" She said quietly, her eyelids fluttering open. "Oh thank the gods," he muttered, pressing his lips to her forehead. "I thought you'd never wake up. You wouldn't stop screaming and thrashing around, and then you were so still…"
She sat up a bit, her mind gradually clearing from the fog that was PTSD. "Sorry I scared you. It was Tartarus, when I was cursed…Percy, out of all these nightmares, those are always the worst. Nothing gets as bad as it does when you leave me." She closed her eyes as a stray tear escaped, leaning into his shoulder.
He stroked her hair, squeezing her and placing his chin atop her head. "I am never leaving you. Ever. That's what makes those nightmares different; they show the one thing that could never happen."
"Do you promise? Even if I try to make you leave, or I turn into an awful person? You'll always be with me?"
Percy nodded, "I promise. You're stuck with me forever, because that's as long as I will love you. No matter who you are or what you are, you will always be my Wise Girl and I'll be your Seaweed Brain. No curse could keep me away from you."
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Percy jerked awake when he heard his mom's voice, waking him up for school as usual. He looked at her to signify that he was getting up, but she raised her eyebrows, on the verge of laughter while looking like she wanted to reprimand him, when he felt hair tickle his arm. He looked over to find blond curls strewn across half the bed, the pretty face beneath it puffing little breaths through its mouth.
Percy looked back to his mom with wide eyes, grabbing at his collar, "Clothes, see?"
She burst out laughing, her serious demeanor destroyed. "I noticed. Percy, I know you and Annabeth will be responsible with whatever you do or do not do, it's fine. The whole point of this arrangement was for you guys to help with each others' nightmares. I'm just recovering from the mini heart attack I had when I found your room empty this morning. I should've known, I just don't expect you to be gone when we just got you back; I was worried Hera kidnapped you again. Stupid goddess."
Thunder boomed through the apartment, and Sally rolled her eyes. "Whine to me later, Hera. You already got your thanks for ensuring the victory of the gods, I'm a mother and you took my kid. Deal with it."
Annabeth sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "Sally, did you just sass Hera?"
Sally smirked, "Well, Persassy had to come from somewhere, didn't he? And Sally is just sassy with Ls."
A/N: Let me know what y'all think! I know this chapter is short, but Percabeth fluff and sassy Sally make up for it at least partially, right? If anyone is extra bored and interested at all, I have one complete book and one book in progress on wattpad, my username is thisishowiedoitt, so feel free to check it out(: Until next time!